World Notes Oct 27 1986

A wry smile crossed Congressman Gerry Studd's face last week as he confronted Assistant Secretary of State Eliott Abrams, a chief spokesman for the Reagan Administration's Central American policies. Testifying on Capitol Hill, Abrams had just flatly denied any U.S. government ties to an American cargo plane that Sandinista troops had shot down in Nicaragua on Oct. 5. Unconvinced, the Massachusetts Democrat snapped, "If the U.S. government is not paying for this, who is, the A-Team?" Equally frustrated, Democrat Peter Kostmayer of Pennsylvania charged that a "great deal of information is being held back."